London salary benchmarks: median and percentiles (2025)
London's median annual gross earnings were £49,692 in the 2025 provisional ONS full-time benchmark. Its top-10% threshold was £115,775.
This describes jobs based in London, not everyone living in London. The annual measure covers the tax year ending 5 April 2025. Source: ONS workplace earnings, Table 7.
ONS ASHE 2025 provisional. Tax year ending 5 April 2025. Data checked 17 October 2026. Page checked 17 October 2026.
London's published earnings thresholds
| Published point | Annual gross earnings | CV |
|---|---|---|
| Median (50th percentile) | £49,692 | 0.7% |
| 75th percentile | £73,667 | 1.5% |
| 90th percentile (top 10% threshold) | £115,775 | 3.5% |
| 95th percentile (top 5% threshold) | £165,145 | 7.1% |
| 97th percentile (top 3% threshold) | £207,988 | 16.5% |
The last row is the highest usable threshold in this dashboard, not the salary of London's highest earner. It passes the CV quality rule but remains a sample estimate.
Is £250,000 in London's top 1%?
We cannot establish that from the quality-screened figures used here. £250,000 exceeds the usable 97th-percentile threshold of £207,988, so the supported label is Top 3%; finer rank unavailable. That does not mean the salary is outside London's top 1%.
London's published P98 estimate has a 32.8% CV, above the 20% limit; its P99 has no usable published CV. Both are excluded. Source: ONS upper-tail values and quality tables.
Why the same salary looks different across the UK
At £50,000 annual gross pay, the UK band is 60th–70th percentile. London's band is 50th–60th percentile. That salary is approximately 28.1% above the UK median and 0.6% above London's. These comparisons say nothing about rent, commuting costs, household needs or differences between occupations.
Choose London in the earnings dashboard
Workplace location is not tax residence
The map groups jobs by place of work. It does not classify where their holders live or decide which Income Tax rules apply. Selecting London or any other workplace region in the map does not change the calculator's separate tax-jurisdiction setting.
Population and uncertainty
These figures describe full-time employee jobs, all sexes, on adult pay rates and held for more than a year. They are not a ranking of every UK resident, unique individuals, self-employed workers, household income or wealth. Full-time means more than 30 paid hours per week, or at least 25 for teaching professions. Annual observed earnings can include bonuses and overtime; a current base-salary offer is an approximate comparison.
We use an estimate only when its published coefficient of variation (CV) is available and at or below 20%. A higher CV means greater sampling uncertainty. The additional ONS release includes some figures normally suppressed for low precision; those above our CV limit, or without usable quality information, are excluded. Missing observations remain unavailable and can widen a band. No exact rank is calculated above the last usable threshold.
Sources and method
- ONS ASHE Table 1: all employees, 2025 provisional
- ONS ASHE Table 7: place of work, 2025 provisional
- ONS ASHE ad-hoc J76: 90th–99th annual earnings percentiles, 2025 provisional
- ONS guide to interpreting ASHE
The core tables were released 23 October 2025; the additional upper-tail tables were released 4 November 2025. These are 2025 survey benchmarks, not live 2026 earnings. The dashboard's 2026/27 tax calculation is a separate model. Benchmarks are not adjusted for inflation.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Read the licence. PayFigured is independent of ONS and is not endorsed by it.
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Publication and checks
Published by PayFigured, operated by ELENOVO HOLDINGS LTD. These pages are generated from the same versioned, source-checked earnings dataset used by the dashboard. Automated checks compare the displayed tables with those data. There is no claim of independent professional certification or expert review.
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